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An architect s drawing of the planned Hoke Townhomes in Davidson.
The town board in Davidson Tuesday night approved a plan that will use public and private money to build affordable housing as part of a proposed 81-unit luxury townhome development.
Eight affordable units will be scattered throughout the new neighborhood, which is to be built at the former Hoke Lumber yard off Jetton Street on Davidson s west side. To help the developer build the units:
The town will kick in $400,000 from its affordable housing fund.
Another $400,000 will come from the Davidson Community Foundation.
The developer, Alliance Group, also agreed to discount the home prices by $150,000 per unit.
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An aerial photo of the Linden Mill, later the Carolina Asbestos Company, with smokestack, in downtown Davidson. Main Street and Davidson College Presbyterian Church are at the bottom. The photo is probably from the 1950s or 1960s.
Here s a familiar story in the Charlotte region: An old brick textile mill is turned into something hip a brewery, apartments or a food hall. It happens all the time, but attempts to redevelop a 130-year-old cotton mill in downtown Davidson have failed. The problem is cancer-causing asbestos. It s buried on the site, and it s been an environmental hazard to the historically Black neighborhood that surrounds the mill.
Community Conversation:
Join us 7 p.m. tonight for a discussion about what s happening with the town s asbestos removal and the possibility for redevelopment at the old Linden Mill.
The event is free, but
In this hourlong special, we ll hear stories about asbestos at an old, brick textile mill in Davidson, North Carolina, and how redevelopment might solve the problem. We ll learn how asbestos got into both the historically Black neighborhood nearby and elsewhere in town and how it s being cleaned up. And we ll talk to residents worried about how fixing one problem might contribute to another gentrification.
Rather read than listen to the audio? Read the transcript.
WFAE
Ruby Houston, who lives across the street from the former Carolina Asbestos mill in Davidson, spoke at a community meeting in January 2020.
Asbestos contamination from an old factory in Davidson is not just an environmental concern on site. It s also a problem throughout the historically African American neighborhood nearby. So far, cleanups have cost the EPA at least $3 million. Today, in the second of our three-part series Asbestos Town, WFAE environmental reporter David Boraks looks at how Davidson is still dealing with the legacies of its asbestos-producing past, including long-simmering distrust from the Black community.
David Boraks
February 2017: Workers installed a new temporary cap on the mound of asbestos that neighbors call Asbestos Hill, or Mystery Hill.